Gov. Doyle uses Veto Pen to Refashion Budget

Gov. Doyle today used his veto pen to find $400 million more to funnel to Wisconsin schools than had been proposed by the Republican budget proposal. 159 million came from DOT, 94 million came from cuts for medical assistance, and other monies came from cutting reimbursements rates for nursing homes, pharmacies and Out Patient surgery.

Proposed tax breaks for private schooling, home schooling and adoption were eliminated.

By redirecting the 159 million from DOT and then freezing property taxes, in effect it seems that Wisconsin is getting a new income stream that will be used for education, namely the fuel tax. Thus, it seems odd that the bill actually cut that tax by .01 .

I would have liked to see health impact fees for alcohol and tobacco passed similar to Minnesota and then some of the tax breaks left as proposed.

The Property Tax freeze passed. With all the bond resolutions passed by cities prior to this bill, it is unclear whether proprty bills will be freezed. We will see.

But what do you think? Our Evansville school superintendent has already posted that the impact of the vetoes will mean that many of the earlier budget fears are unfounded.

Click on the post to read the entire article in the Janesville Gazette this afternoon.